Why it works: Asparagus and capers share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 75 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Asparagus Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the asparagus in water until tender.
Cut off the hard ends and set the tender parts aside.
When cool, cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces and place in a salad dish.
Dress and serve
Pour mayonnaise dressing over the asparagus.
Garnish with a few capers.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Asparagus + caperstop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together75 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Asparagus
- Forms the body of the salad and provides its main texture and flavor.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds fat and creaminess that coat the asparagus and carry flavor.
The step that matters
Boil the asparagus until tender. Overcooking turns asparagus soft and dull in color, while undercooking leaves it fibrous. Stopping at tender keeps a firm bite and bright green color.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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